Going into our 3rd season of covering baseball in the Sooner State, one of the coolest events we’ve seen is the annual Cajun Collision that is held in Sterlington, LA. In it’s 5th year now, the Cajun Collision is a multiday festival played by NAIA teams.
Thirteen teams from multiple state will play four games over two days each including two teams from Oklahoma: MACU and USAO.
Both MACU and USAO will play three of the same teams: #2 LSU Shreveport, Dakota State, Park University. MACU will also play Georgetown and USAO will play #13 Central Methodist.
Let’s take a look at each team.
MACU Evangels
- Record: 5-4
- Ranking: #14 NAIA Ball/#13 NAIA Coaches Poll
- Team Batting: .327/.456/.562, 12 HR, 65 RBI, 76 R, 48 BB, 60 SO
- Team Pitching: 7.95 ERA, 2.03 WHIP, 60 IP, 87 H, 35 BB, 59 SO, .337 BAA
Coming off their best season in the NAIA era, the Evangels received a preseason #13 ranking in the NAIA Coaches Poll. After a 5-4 start of a tough schedule, the Evangels came in at #14 in the first NAIA Ball Media Poll.
Just last week, MACU played 2 games against Houston-Victoria and Central Methodist who are ranked #15 and #13 in the NAIA Ball poll respectively. Unfortunately, the Evangels went 1-3 in those games.
Scoring over 7 runs/game, the offense has been there for MACU. Where they’ve struggled so far this season is on the mound. With a team ERA almost 8 and a WHIP over 2, it is easy to see why the Evangels’ record is where it is regardless of who they’ve played.
Several MACU hitters are off to great starts. Payton Matthews (.364/.436/.848, 4 HR, 17 RBI), Brett Justice (.393/.485/.750, 2 HR, 13 RBI), and D’Andre Gaines (.281/.425/.688, 3 HR, 8 RBI) are just a few leading the way.
USAO Drovers
- Record: 4-3
- Ranking: N/A NAIA Ball/RV NAIA Coaches Poll
- Team Batting: .319/.443/.424, 3 HR, 42 RBI, 49 R, 41 BB, 34 SO
- Team Pitching: 4.30 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 46 IP, 36 H, 14 BB, 41 SO
The Drovers’ record does not reflect how USAO has played so far this season. There threes losses are by 1, 2, and 3 runs while their wins are by an average of over 6 runs/game.
What has helped the Drovers is their pitching. The 1-2 punch of Brian Ereu and Kyler Denton have been solid for the Drovers. In their 2 appearances, they’ve both pitched 9 innings and are averaging 8 K/9 innings. Denton has a miniscule 0.44 WHIP.
Ben Bach has been awesome at plate for the Drovers: .421/.556/.737, 2 HR, 6 RBI. Gunnar Hansen (.389/.500/.500, 9 RBI, 2 2B), Corey Morro (.350/.552/.650, HR, 3 2B), and Christopher Martinez (.346/.419/.346) have been solid as well.
USAO is coming off a 11-2 win over then #12 on Sunday.
LSU Shreveport Pilots
vs MACU Feb 7 (FRI) 2:30 p.m.; vs USAO Feb 7 (FRI) 6:00 p.m.
- Record: 7-0
- Ranking: #2 NAIA Ball/#4 NAIA Coaches Poll
- Team Batting: .315/.505/.472, 4 HR, 65 RBI, 79 R, 68 BB, 53 SO
- Team Pitching: 3.26 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 58 IP, 52 H, 19 BB, 66 SO
The Pilots are one of the top NAIA programs in the country. They’ve made 5 NAIA World Series appearances with the last 2 in 2021 and 2022. They have also made the last 19 NAIA Opening Rounds and won 9 conference regular season titles since 2005 including the last 3 in a row.
LSUS is coming off a 2024 year that saw them go 44-11 before losing in the NAIA Opening Round finals.
Ryan Davenport and Angel Rodriguez have led the Pilots at the plate so far this year. Davenport is slashing .556/.714/.778 with 8 RBI, 2 2B, and 9 BB against only 1 K while Rodriguez is going .556/.733/1.00, HR, 8 RBI, 4 BB. Josh Gibson (.400/.579/.560, 8 RBI, 9 BB) and Jose Sallorin (.429/.500/.717 HR, 8 RBI) are also producing.
On the mound, the Pilots have used 4 starters so far with 3 of them getting 2 starts each. All 3 (Isaac Rohde, Cobe Reeves, and Draven Zeigler) have logged 9+ innings with all 3 averaging at least 9 K/9 (Rohde 17.69).
Dakota State Trojans
vs USAO Feb 7 (FRI) 2:30 p.m.; vs MACU Feb 7 (FRI) 6:00 p.m.
- Record: 0-0
- Ranking: N/A
- Team Batting: N/A
- Team Pitching: N/A
Dakota State has yet to play a game in the 2025 season as they will start their season in Sterlington. The Trojans were tabbed to finish 2nd in their conference behind Bellevue who is currently ranked #11 by NAIA Ball and #15 the NAIA coaches.
The Trojans did go 36-16 in 2024 but did not play in the NAIA National Tournament after being eliminated from their conference tournament.
Park Pirates
vs USAO Feb 8 (SAT) 11:00 a.m.; vs MACU Feb 7 (SAT) 2:30 p.m.
- Record: 0-0
- Ranking: N/A
- Team Batting: N/A
- Team Pitching: N/A
Just like Dakota State, Park has yet to play a game in 2025 and will begin their season in Sterlington.
The Pirates finished the 2024 season with an overall record of 36-19 and a Heart of American Conference mark of 21-11 which was good enough for 4th place behind Central Methodist, MidAmerica Nazarene, and Mount Mercy. They also finished 2nd in their conference tournament and went 1-2 in the NAIA Opening Round.
Georgetown College Tigers
vs MACU Feb 8 (SAT) 11:00 a.m.
- Record: 1-3
- Ranking: N/A
- Team Batting: .298/.397/.474, 3 HR, 24 RBI, 28 R, 16 BB, 38 SO
- Team Pitching: 6.48 ERA, 2.20 WHIP, 25 IP, 41 H, 14 BB, 18 SO
Georgetown has only played 4 games this season. They went 1-3 against Milligan who received votes in the NAIA Coaches Poll so it is an extremely small sample size.
They did go 31-23 in 2024 and had a runner up finish in the Mid-South Conference Tournament.
In their series with Milligan last weekend, Keano Suarez (C) went 4-15 with all 4 hits of the extra variety (2 HR, 2 2B, 3B) and 7 RBI. Jose Cazoria (OF) led the team with 8 hits going 8-16 with 3 2B and 5 RBI.
Incidentally, these 2 teams met in the Cajun Collision last year with MACU winning 2-1.
Central Methodist Eagles
vs USAO Feb 8 (SAT) 2:30 p.m.
- Record: 2-2
- Ranking: NAIA Ball #13/NAIA Coaches #14
- Team Batting: .357/.419/.522, 3 HR, 20 RBI, 25 R, 10 BB, 23 SO
- Team Pitching: 4.50 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 26 IP, 23 H, 15 BB 19 SO
Just like Georgetown, Central Methodist has only played 4 games so far this season. However, we do know a little more about the Eagles than the Tigers. CMU played 4 games last weekend against MACU and Houston-Victoria. They swept MACU 10-3, 14-6 before being swept by HVU 3-0, 3-1.
The Eagles went 44-11 overall and 28-4 in conference to win the Heart of America regular season title. They qualified for the NAIA Opening Round and finished #8 in the final 2024 NAIA Coaches Poll.
Kyle Williams led the Eagles last weekend with 7 hits (HR, 2 2B, 3B) in 14 AB and 5 RBI. Zeb Wede and Ryan Malzahn each had 4 RBI for the Eagles last weekend.
Do you like the content that Sooner State Baseball Report provides? Show your support by purchasing an official SSBR shirt or hoodie at our online store at the link below.
Official Sooner State Baseball Report Merch
Like this content? Don’t miss any posts. Enter your email in the box below and have Sooner State Baseball Report content delivered right to your inbox.
Sooner State Baseball Report 
Leave a comment